Training update

I make a bunch of funny articles, interview folks, review gear and talk about nutrition but I don’t say much about my training.

Oops, sorry about that – I guess it’s just such a part of my routine life I look at it like using the restroom. Kind of like you probably don’t want me updating with:

I pooped.

But hey, if you are interested in how my training is going? Well it’s going well.

Cardio/Strength

First of all, my coach has me on a pretty rigorous schedule getting ready for the Trans North Georgia Adventure Race (TNGA) in August. It’s a little trek through the mountains of Georgia to the tune of 350 miles with, oh, 56k of climbing. I’m sure I’ll be fine, right?

Where my training is right now:

Two times a week I do some cardio and strength training. This includes jumping rope, push-ups, air squats oh…and burpees. God, I hate burpees with a passion. Worst exercise ever.

What is a burpee? It’s this:

Except that I do it with weights.

This is also a considered a burpee – but apparently you have to be Asian to do it as us Americans are not capable of such Ninjatic feats of acrobatics.

At first I could barely do one burpee but now I’m scooting through them rather well.

Jumping rope has been difficult for me because I’m white and have no rhythm. I generally have to do 4 sets of 60 jumps both forwards and backwards. So 480 revolutions total. Let’s revisit a sentence just a moment ago. I’m white and have no rhythm. Watching me jump rope is right up there with seeing Eddie Murphy live back when he was funny.

Intervals

My coach has me doing a couple of forms of aerobic and anaerobic intervals on a trainer. I was used to one form of intervals, but the new ones were just absolutely brutal. I’m going to blog about that later but just know for now I crawled off the trainer and laid on the ground trying to recover for some time. However now I can do them and not hurt so bad.

When I do my intervals, I look exactly like this complete with scientific mumbo jumbo flying around me. It’s awesome.

I know intervals must be magical – every one of my roadie friends with shaven legs always say “oooh yeah, intervals are good for you, they make you strawng! Shave your legs like meeee!” Yeah well, I’m not a roadie and don’t have slick legs (another blog post to come out about that soon) and mountain biking makes me strong enough!

Still, Cyclocross season is just around the corner and it’s nothing but intervals – so I don’t mind the work and you know lately I’ve been doing pretty okay at hitting the intervals and holding threshold.

In the saddle

A few weeks ago every time I’d hop in the saddle and hit the trails I’d have a bad ride. We’re not talking the good kind of bad, but bd like dealing with fatigue, sloppiness and constant bike mechanicals.

I went on one training ride with some buddies of mine and could barely keep up ultimately having to bail because I was having such a horrible ride. I didn’t really get down about it per I knew it was mainly fatigue, changing of my diet and dealing with the heat but damn – it was getting old having to constantly deal with bad rides.

Fortunately that has ended and the last few rides I’ve had have been nothing but A+ in my book. I’ve been able to really kill it on climbs and take technical stuff better than I have before.

Diet

Boy, this one has been hell. I’ve fluctuated in my weight a bunch but I’m finally trending down and heading towards my goal of dropping 10lbs by time for the TNGA. It’s been such a mental hurdle to see my weight dip under 200 (for those of you reading for the first time, I’m not fat – I’m honestly big boned…I know, all fat kids say that…but it’s TRUE I SWEAR!).

I’ve switched some things around on my diet and it’s really working for me and the pounds are coming off. Yay!

Fatigue

I called my coach a few weeks ago and told him that I was pretty tired and for the first time ever, not looking forward to riding. I was absolutely sick of seeing bicycle there for a few days and while I didn’t want to give up – I just wanted a break. I didn’t quit and pushed through it all but it wasn’t fun.

I hear there’s many stretches on the Tour Divide that aren’t fun either. There’s one section that is all washed out rutted roads for 40 miles with winds blowing on you making it miserable.

I also hear life isn’t pleasant at times and is can be miserable as well.

Rutted out roads end, fatigue goes away, Justin Beiber stops making albums and life gets better. So I continue to push through all that and you know what, things are better now.

And there you have it. 11 Months left until I go up to Canada and tackle the toughest known mountain bike race, the TourDivide.

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I'm an graphic designer who loves biking no matter if it's road, cross or mountain biking. I love it all. I live in Birmingham, Alabama and design t-shirts, work for companies like the Wall Street Journal and teach as an associate professor at two of the local Universities.